Montpellier, France (SportsNetwork.com) – Former top-10 Frenchmen Gilles
Simon and former champion Richard Gasquet were a pair of second-round winners
Wednesday at the Open Sud de France tennis event.
The second-seeded Simon handled fellow countryman Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-3,
6-3, while the fourth-seeded Gasquet grounded wild card compatriot Lucas
Pouille 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) at Montpellier Arena.
Gasquet captured this tournament in Lyon in 2006 and in Montpellier two years
ago and was last year’s runner-up to fellow French star and fellow two-time
winner Gael Monfils.
Another second-round result saw seventh-seeded rising Portuguese Joao Sousa
come from behind to beat German Tobias Kamke 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
The first round concluded with a pair of matches, as sixth-seeded Denis
Istomin of Uzbekistan moved on when Tunisian Malek Jaziri retired despite
winning the first set 6-3 and Belgian qualifier Steve Darcis drilled Japanese
Tatsuma Ito 6-2, 6-2.
The 2015 Montpellier champion will earn $90,000.
